{MIW} Aaaaaatrrrrrrreeeeeyyyyuuuuu

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Aaaaaaaaatreeeeeeeyuuuu!" screamed the blonde cheerleader as she bounded across the courtyard at top speed toward the poor boy. This might require a bit more explanation than that, so let's begin at the top.

It as Move-In-Week, and Frank, as a member of literally every club in existence (a fact that had gone virtually unnoticed until now) could literally have had her pick in whatever she wanted to do and, being Frank, this often meant flitting from one task to the other without any real rhyme or reason. Also being Frank, she had opted for the uniform she most wanted to wear during that day, which just happened to be said cheerleading uniform. She also had the photography club button, a happy homemaker's rolling pin, what looked like the AV hat (though not currently on her), and a smiling badge for being a Helping Hand. If she could've carried her "musical instrument" (triangle) with her, she probably would've done that too.

Frank had been talking to a group of new students and entertaining them as she was wont to do, when she'd recognized her fateful lover, Amadeus, from across the field. Naturally she couldn't let the opportunity to publicly profess her love for Aladdin to pass by.

And that's how Akeem Ten-Amen had a charging blonde cheerleader shouting "Atreyu" at the top of her lungs while bounding toward him with the unstoppable force of ye average freight train.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

When someone screams something that vaguely sounds like a name, one that isn’t yours mind you, you just think that person met someone they know and are overly enthusiastic about it. Some girls had this bad habit of screaming things enough to make everyone’s ears bleed. The name sounded... well, nothing he’d ever believe someone would ever call their child but who knows. Maybe Atreyu was a very common name in whatever ethnicity that person was. Atreyu... kind of reminded him of something, especially the way it was said.

To be someone who was overly enthusiastic, that girl was. Problem was, she also ran his way after calling out for Atreyu. And what that reminded him was the last time they met and the other A names she gave him. That cheerleader could have been just any cheerleader, and he would have likely tried to charm her had it been the case, but it was that crazy girl. Akeem pulled away, hoping that poor Atreyu was an actual person standing not too far from him and she had totally forgotten about him.

Akeem had no intention to help people during this move-in week. Why would he do that, really? But he was curious as to what the new batch of students, and especially the college ones, looked like. Yes, Akeem was out to have a look at the girls. Because he had no interest in the different clubs or activities they set up for the week. Only, instead of having a bunch of cute new girls he could properly greet, he got some weird looking cheerleader charging towards him until he could notice her. Was it too late to run away? Akeem looked around with the secret wish there were people near he could toss at her to make his getaway.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"C'mon, Amir!" Frank said as she pulled closer, still running forward and somehow managing to shout. There were people in the way still, though most of them were getting out of the way. The ones who knew and recognized Frank Cox (or at least could guess thanks to her reputation and what was currently happening) were grinning and moving aside to watch. The ones who didn't were looking confused or, in a few cases, utterly terrified.

Frank did end up pausing in front of a particularly large trunk. "Don't worry, Alejandro!" she called, waving her hands. "I'll surmount any obstacle on the way to connect with you, my love!" And she started scrambling over the trunk, and the people carrying it.

and at least one guy standing near Akeem likely would turn to him and point at her, going "I think she's talking about you, bro." And who wouldn't be grinning? Seeing that bundle of... something now scrambling to desperately get in that direction.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Amir was already a name closer to his own or at least fitting his origins better so it would appeared she started to understand where she had to orientate her list of A names. Still, that was not much of a consolation for Akeem as he feared she might one day get it right. What if it finally rang a bell and she remembered it really was his name? That would be terrible.

Or not. She then called him Alejandro and he could rest easy that she was nowhere near getting to his name, even if she moved from M to L and the next was a K, which actually was in his name. But he wouldn’t believe she’d get it. Didn’t mean he wanted to stay and see if she would. “I don’t get it, you shouldn’t be affected anymore.” But, as he feared then, it seemed she decided it was real. Why on earth did he have to make the craziest girl in the school fall for him? People were really wondering what was going on. This was too crazy to be real. Must be some entertainment from the drama club. Akeem sure wished it had been that.

No one looked more terrified than he was and the fact some guy next to him pointed out he was the ‘love’ mentioned there was not to help. “I don’t know what this is about, but you’ve got the wrong person,” he said in the girl’s direction, already going behind the grinning idiot that spoke to him, seriously thinking about throwing him at her so he could run away.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

Frank grinned as Akeem talked about not getting affected any more. "Oh, silly Adonis," she said, giggling and waving her hand. Her eyes rolled. "Love isn't something that, like, fades or anything like that. Especially not a love as heavy with feelings as ours," she took another step closer to him. Frank did sort of notice the fear on his face, but: "Shhh, you don't have to be afraid of commitment, silly, not after what we did together."

Frank gave a bawdy wink Akeem's way, also catching the other people. "And I totes know that I got the right person, Artemis," Frank said, adding another roll of her eyes. She darted around the grinning guy, getting within arm's reach of Akeem now. "How could I ever forget your beautiful mocha skin? Or the way your eyes shine as they look to me? You're like a sexy seductive vampire who took my heart and also some other stuff that we can't mention 'cuz we're totes PG-13 around here," Frank fluttered her eyes again, taking a step closer, clearly getting ready to pounce.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

“But you’re not in love!” he argued. What kind of person let something as silly as this sink in enough to make them believe it true? Heavy with feelings? There never had been any feelings between them. Just him convincing her she had to get rid of a piñata for him. He should have gone for trust only but he didn’t think it would have been enough to believe him and leave with that thing. Now, now he was paying the price. And he refused to do so.

“We did nothing together!” he exclaimed real fast before anyone started to think he could have done anything with... that. Sure, she looked kind of hot, but just the way she was acting now proved he should steer clear of her. He wouldn’t let anyone imply anything differently. Especially not her. People might start believe her delirium.

“You can’t have the right person, you keep calling me different things. How can you not know the name of the person you think is your true love? I can’t even remember your name.” The guy next to him gave it to him and Akeem glared at him. This was not funny and he didn’t want to know her name. He wanted this masquerade to end.

Talking of his mocha skin would not change his mind. Especially if it was followed by alleged glitter in his eyes when looking at her. She obviously didn’t see what he meant for her to see in those. That vampire reference was ridiculous though. She could at least refer to him as a pharaoh or something, that would make more sense. “I don’t intend to take anything not PG-13 from you.” He was seriously starting to be scared here. And she was ready to jump at him, he could just sense it. He tossed the guy next to him at her and made a run for it before it would happen.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Aww, that's just like you, Adamai!" Frank said, adding a little giggle. She darted around and tapped him lightly on the nose. "Acting all coy and shy. You definitely weren't like that last time. Remember the pin-ya-ta?" She drew it out, adding a few eyebrow raises that were just shy of being suggestive. He was already exclaiming and she was letting out a gasp.

"Why, Alessandro! How dare you say that!" Frank turned to the people around. "We had a very special moment together! I certainly wouldn't forget that. And like Cinderella at the ball: we both know that names don't really matter when faced with true love. I am your darling Frank, and you are my prince... Aliababa." Frank nodded, fully convinced that she'd at least nailed the name there, if only in the whole reference thing that hopefully a few people had gotten.

Frank then skipped the last few paces around, making sure to come to a stop right in front of her darling Apu now. "C'mon, Axel, you know that you stole my heart upon our meeting. There, on the roof, where we shared an intimate moment that you'd never experienced before," she let out a dramatic shudder, bringing the back of her hand to her forehead to further bring it home.

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

And Akeem worried for nothing when he feared she’d land on his name. Now he was called Adamai. He was not even sure where she got all those names. Just how many names starting with the letter A did she know? With a bit of luck, and despite the fact some were pretty weird, his would be too uncommon for her to even think it was a name. No one better whisper to her the right name to say. Why she had to be this close to him, why she had to believe there was something between the two of them when clearly there was not? The way she said piñata even seemed to imply something that had nothing to do with the actual object you called by that name. It was terrible.

“No, we did not!” he exclaimed after she had to tell whoever was around to enjoy the scene just how marvelous it had been. What was so awesome, he had no idea, considering what really happened. But she had a different memory of it, clearly. He leaned towards her so that his face could be right in front of hers. If she looked right into his eyes maybe she’ll finally understand that there was nothing, nothing at all, between them. “Nothing happened Frank. It was fake, alright. And I’m not Aliababa, or a prince. Or Arabian for that matter.” Why couldn’t she understand that? She had to understand that. Then maybe he could forget about her existence.

“We shared nothing alright. I just... I made it look like it, I’m sorry if you thought it was real, but that was just chemicals ok? Pheromones. Not real. I’m sure you’ve got some other guy that you actually remember the name of and would really want all that love.” This was pathetic. And now, everyone would think... it had to stop. Now.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

The exclamation caused Frank to yelp and flail her arms about in a semi-defensive gesture. She blinked at him through the criss-crossed arms, wondering what had caused Adarondike to suddenly get all shouty. he'd leaned toward her, and naturally Frank leaned back, since she figured that they were now going to start doing the kissing thing, which was always fun. Instead he started talking and Frank had to let out a sigh of disappointment.

"Are you sure you're not Arabian? Because you look pretty--" she began, only to pause as Adolphus continued, insisting that there was nothing actually there. Frank tilted her head for a moment. Chemicals. Not real. "oooh, I get it," Frank said, her head bobbing, "'pheromones,'" she actually did the air quotes, "that's a pretty cool excuse, don't know if I've actually heard that one before. But see, here's the thing," she flung an arm around his shoulders, pulling him in for the hug. "I remember the whole thing, and the whole emotions and how you promised we'd meet again and how intense the passion was between us. So, like, even if what you started it was fake and all, something happened between us," Frank gestured between the two of them, nodding. "It's okay, Atreyu," she patted him, "i can show you how to truly love."

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Akeem moved away from her, certain that he would be hit by her arms now that they had a life of their own and kept moving around in the hope of hitting something. It better not be him. Her arms seemed to calm down but it was only to take some strange position and to prove him that if they did, the person these arms were attached to was not going to quiet down anytime soon.

“No, I’m not. I’m Egyptian. And no, it’s not the same thing!” Why people believed that it was? Because they had so much in common. Canadians had a lot in common with Americans yet you better not make the mistake of saying they were the same thing. Besides, what he was, was American. After all, he was born here, as his father. Or he moved here when he was really young, he was not so sure anymore. It didn’t matter, Akeem was American of Egyptian descent. On his father’s part only. His mother was... who cares what his mother was! He groaned. That girl was making him as crazy and hard to follow as she was!

Somehow, he doubted she got it. And when the air quote appeared, he knew she really didn’t get it at all. “It’s not an excuse, it’s what I do, alright? I spread pheromones around me that can cause this effect on people.” Usually not this long, he almost added. Why he thought things would be normal with her, he no longer knew. He just wanted to get out of a jam and found himself in a worse one. He rolled his shoulders to avoid her from holding him. No touching allowed here. “Whoa, whoa whoa,” eh let out, even pulling away from her when she spoke of emotions and promises and passion. “There was no emotion, I just told you it was all fake. And the only thing that happened was me giving you a piñata, and actual piñata,” that comment being to anyone who might be listening to them and still think it was a crazy metaphor “and telling you to do with it anything you wanted so long as I was not involved. Nothing else happened.” And another groan escaped him. The last thing he wanted was that to teach him how to truly love.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"So you're A PHARAOH!?" Frank asked, her eyes going wide. "oh, oh, oh, like in that one show with all the magic and the Egyptians and stuff! Yu-Gi-Oh! See," Frank paused and gestured toward Atreyu's hair, "the hair was throwing me off. If you really wanna be Egyptian, you should have it all spiked out and probably blonde or white or something."

Jeez, you'd think he'd at least get the hair right. Especially if he was going to keep on about how the thing wasn't an excuse but actually what he does and how it had affects on people. "Aww, so everyone falls in love with you?" Frank asked, tilting her head. "That's so sad! And so you feel that people can't actually fall in love with you naturally and love you for who you are and forget the pinata you are weirdly fixated on the pinata but don't worry!" Frank threw her arms wide. "I can show the love you always were looking for, Atreyu!" At least Frank had settled on one name for him, you had to grant that much.

Frank took a few steps forward. "Don't worry, Atreyu! Nothing will stop our true love! Nothing can stand in the way of true love and friendship! Not even logic or reason or the fact that you totally don't have Egyptian hair!"

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

Akeem wanted to hide. True, this feeling came a long time ago but now he just wanted to ask someone to cut the floor in a circle around him and let him fall to the floor below. The pharaoh comment. She had to go for the pharaoh comment. Although he had to give her credit, it was the first time one associated it with Yu-Gi-Oh. He didn’t even know what it was. He supposed Ramses was not someone she’d know of. And then she said it was his hair that had her not think he was Egyptian. Because it was not blonde or white. “Since when Egyptians have blonde hair? They’re not Vikings,” he let out. He looked very Egyptian. At least he believed so. Of course, what he knew of Egyptians happened to be his family and since he looked like them, he would say that he did look like a... yeah right, like a pharaoh. But Ramses, not that Yu-Gi-Oh whatever.

An intelligent girl would understand she just embarrassed herself thinking it was real and would leave, hoping that everyone would just forget about it. Only this girl proved to him that she was not all that intelligent. And she had to turn his life into some soppy chick flick scenario about him not being able to trust anyone to love him for himself. In a way, it was true but it was not like he would ever admit that to her. Especially not when brought out like this. No, scratch that, he would never admit to it period.

And what’s with Atreyu? He sighed. Couldn’t someone free him already? It had to be some sort of prank. Soon, someone would come over with a camera and laugh at his face and everyone in the hallway will clap their hands at this. Any minute now. But now and the girl kept going. “I have Egyptian hair. And I’m not looking for true love and even if I was I wouldn’t be looking for it with you!” Was it clear that he was annoyed?

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"Uh, yeah they do, I totally saw the show," Frank said. She rolled her eyes and sort of jerked a thumb toward Atreyu, showing the whole "this guy" sort of thing. Frank was definitely feeling a bit sorry for the poor guy, since clearly he was confused about his own ethnicity and things along those lines. Frank just wanted to give him the biggest of hugs, and at least she was creeping toward him.

"Well, that's just obviously what someone who believes that they can't have true love would say, now isn't it?" Frank pointed out, adding a little laugh and crossing her arms over her chest. She then leaned over. "Besides, see, here's the thing, if you're totally not in at least a little love with me or something, then that means that you used your secret voodoo head magic on me in order to do what you want, and that would make you some kinda bad guy who doesn't mind using his power on girls to get them to do what they say, and I kinda don't think that's who you want to be even if that's totally who you think you are, so as far as I'm concerned," Frank leaned in to whisper the next just loud enough for Atreyu to here, "Akeem," back to loud enough for everyone to hear, "you're totally someone who just doesn't understand how love and friendship and people work. But it's okay!"

The arms went wide and Frank pounced for the hug. "I'm here for you, Atreyuuuuuuu!"

[Akeem Ten-Amen]

She was still going on about that show and all Akeem could think about was who was stupid enough to think Egyptians would be blond. It made far more sense that they’d have dark hair or at the very least some chocolate shade of brown. Not blond or white. He should know better yet she acted as though she did. Yet had she ever seen a blond actor portray Ramses or Nefertiti? Or course not, because it made no sense.

Akeem looked around. There had to be a way to get out of them without her chasing after him. If only there was some room he could lock himself in and then just try to open a window and jump down. But he doubted this was that good of an idea. He might just end up breaking his ankle or something and when he’ll be in a hospital bed with a cast on, he wouldn’t be able to run away from her. The image of her nursing him was enough for him to know he didn’t want it happening.

Why didn’t she end up crying because he was denying everything she said? He just wanted her to cry and go away. He’d be at peace then and couldn’t care less if some would think of him as heartless. She was the idiot one who thought fake meant real and no, yes. He sighed. Bad guy? Ok, he could be the bad guy. “Actually, that’s what I did. Remember? I wanted to get rid of a piñata and didn’t want to destroy it without me around. So I made sure you’d take it. That’s all there ever had been between us. Some colored-paper donkey with stuff in it I didn’t want to see. You took it and I left. End of story. No love there.” If that made him a bad guy, so be it. He never would have thought he’d be for forcing a piñata into someone’s arms.

He jumped back when she came to hug him. “I know very well how people work, thank you. It’s you I don’t get.” And he doubted he was the only one.

[Frank "Sunny" Laffont]

"See? You're all confused and stuff," Frank insisted, rolling her finger at Atreyu and smiling all the while. He kept insisting on just one version of the story, probably the one that described how he saw it and how he wanted everyone else to see it. "I totes get where you're coming from, Atreyu," Frank said, folding her arms to nod a few times.

The arms did have to come unfolded for the hug, which Atreyu unfortunately dodged. But Frank managed to recover easily enough. Atreyu was not the first person to dodge one of her hugs and he probably wouldn't be the last either. She straightened up as he went on about how he got how people worked and stuff. Frank just rolled her eyes again.

"See? You're totally thinking all villain like and stuff, about how people are all manipulated and junk and how you're this stone cold vill and all. See," Frank said, gesturing between the two of them with her hands, "This is why you need me! I'm here to show you all about friendship!" Frank threw her arms wide and smiled at Atreyu. "I'm totes ready to be your friend, Atreyu. And if you want, we can even go out or something, since you obviously want some of this."